McHenry Times

Striving to clarify legalities in the nation’s evolving immigration regulations, state Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-Dundee) recently filed House Bill 2942 in an effort to counteract HB 426, which would allow non-compliance with current immigration policies.

HB 426, informally titled Immigration Safe Zones according to the Illinois government’s website, was filed by a group of House sponsors to provide that schools, health care facilities, and places of worship may not permit entrance by law enforcement personnel working in conjunction with federal immigration authorities, or to allow them to question, detain or arrest individuals without a court-ordered warrant and subsequent local approval.

By introducing HB 2942, Skillicorn hopes to show that the earlier bill actually would be advising facilities against complying with the law.

“Trying to pass a law that tells our towns and cities to deliberately ignore federal law is baffling,” Skillicorn said. “We should be focused on passing a balanced budget and stopping the advance of crippling property taxes, not wasting time on efforts that violate federal law and diminish the responsibilities of our law enforcement that keep us safe.”

If HB 426 were to become law, affected venues would be allowed “to obstruct law enforcement investigations into violations of federal immigration law,” the congressman said, adding that “failure to enforce federal law could cost Illinois taxpayers billions of dollars in the form of lost federal funds.”

Consequently, HB 2942 would withhold funding for any local governments that engage in or permit policies preventing federal law from being enforced through so-called “sanctuary city” designation.